Special Quotes:  quotes from over 20 articles written by

Bob Prisco over the last 6 years

There is no difference between training a human or an animal athlete.  They both need the athletic ability, proper training, excellent diets, good health and hygiene habits, plenty of rest, regular routine and stress free environments to stay in condition and compete week after week.

Good quality pigeons living in an unhealthy loft will never show or reach their true potential.  To have healthy pigeons, one must have a healthy loft that possesses:  plenty of fresh air, dry, plenty of natural sunlight, secure, plenty of room for rest, without stress, clean and disinfected, proper feeding and water conditions.

Drinking water should be clean and germ free at all times.  Clean water is the lifeline of good health and a successful loft. Fanciers ask pigeons to make strenuous athletic efforts to win. Therefore, it should be no trouble for fanciers to keep fresh, clean drinking water in front of the birds at all times.

Healthy birds will like to take a bath 1 or 2 times a week.  Place a bath pan in the loft on a nice sunny day with 2 tablespoons of bleach or a hand full of epsom salts in the water. HEALTHY BIRDS ALWAYS KEEP THEMSELVES CLEAN AND PREEN THEMSELVES.

Nutrition and diet play an important roll in keeping birds healthy and competitive.  A fancier should strive to provide his birds with clean, high quality feed that contains a variety of premium grains.  Each bag should be consistent with the same type, quality and ratio / proportion of grains.

Keep all birds on a protein diet of 15-17% grain mixture and an assortment of various grains (12-18 different types of seed) plus electrolytes, vitamins, minerals in the water 2 times a week:   Fresh grit daily, free choice of 21-28% protein pigeon or poultry pellets, raw Spanish peanuts #1 grade, extra safflower and rice.

Peanuts are superior to any other grain we can give our birds for racing.  You should feed them in raw form or as unroasted nuts. You should feed peanuts whole, with the skin still on.  This ensures that the birds will get the most value from the food source.  When peanuts are halved or crushed, they lose a great deal of their nutritional value.  The peanut is the first class fuel for our pigeons' racing engines.

  Wheat-germ oil, rich in vitamin E, is necessary during the breeding season.

A good trainer always makes sure his birds have a proper diet (metabolism) to compete at their highest levels.  Breeders and race birds should never miss a meal or be kept hungry or thirsty.

Hunger may be caused not by a lack of food, but an incorrect diet, deficient in the metabolic needs to sustain prolonged flight or endurance.  If the birds become very hungry during the race, memory, fatigue, loss of weight, etc. can become serious problems.  Homing becomes secondary to the need just to survive, many times causing the loss of the birds.

We know that success in racing and breeding pigeons start with good health and the fancier's willingness to accept that an excellent diet, hygiene and medication program is necessary to keep the birds healthy and competitive.

It all starts with your breeding loft.  A "CHAMPION FLYER" is only as good as his breeding loft, or source of birds, when he flies each race series.  With many clubs having 3 different race seasons, you should give extra care to the breeding hens' diet, by adding an excellent source of calcium and oyster shells.

If you are not breeding in individual breeding compartments, then you really do not have 100% knowledge of both parents.  You can always guarantee the hen, but occasionally the cock may be suspicious.

Along with good health, breed from birds that have a good COMPASS OR HOMING INSTINCT AND NAVIGATION SKILLS.  Without both health and homing instinct, you are wasting your time and money.

To select breeders and flyers is a very simple procedure. PERFORMANCE should be your only criteria.  Does the bird come from a winning family, generation after generation of excellent race results? If the answer is yes, then the bird is worth taking a chance on in the breeding or flying loft.

There are only two kinds of birds:  GOOD ONES that can help you and BAD ONES that will cost you time, money and aggravation with negative results.  If a bird cannot help you to improve your results in the flying or breeding loft, it is of no value and you should cull it.

Quality over quantity.  Do not over crowd your loft.  Many times there is quality in an overcrowded loft, but because the birds are overcrowded, their health and performance is poor.

If it is necessary to introduce new pigeons, a fancier should have a location that enables him to safely quarantine and observe these new birds for a period of 3-4 weeks.  Regardless of where they came from, he should put them through a preventative medication program.  Before placing the birds in the section, it should be completely sanitized with loft disinfectant, along with all feeders and water containers at least 2 times, before placing the birds in the loft.

Before you buy, keep your mind clear and understand what you want and need.  Buy on information and results, not emotion and fancy advertisements, names or pedigrees.  Do your research and homework before you invest your money and your investment will be rewarding and pay dividends.

The pigeons in Taiwan must possess the following qualities to have any chance to compete successfully:  Birds that have a strong history of successful young bird racing in the past, generation after generation of young bird results in tough hard races of distances of 100-350 miles; yearling races of 400-500 miles are good signs of fast maturing pigeons with the necessary physical and mental qualities; and bloodlines from a family of birds that have already proven themselves successful in Taiwan's tough style of racing, especially in the area in which you are racing.

Tough weather birds:  Toughness is a very important characteristic that you should look for at any distance when selecting breeders.  Cull those that do not possess this toughness or produce it in their children.

Birds that come from bloodlines that can perform at various speeds and distances are very successful in the Taiwan style of racing.  This shows a birds's ability to handle different types of weather conditions and its endurance ability to fly speeds necessary to compete with the leaders of the race.  The birds that will fly 100-500 miles at various speeds and conditions should breed children that will do the same.  LIKES BREED LIKES!

Do not worry about strains, famous names, or a certain family of birds at this time.  You are seeking birds that will handle your style and racing conditions from a "PERFORMANCE LOFT".

Stay away from families of birds that mature at 2-4 years of age. These late developing racers produce late developing children. Stay away from "speed families".  These birds fly short easy races 30-100 miles.  They fly in good weather and very easy land courses.  They are not suited for tough racing, long distances or duration of flight.

Breeding two families with the same qualities is OK, but breeding two families with different qualities (one speed and one distance) is not.  It is the long way to success, that is if you ever succeed.  The "MASTERS" of the sport practiced one breeding theory:  Breed "speed to speed" and "distance to distance".

Stay away from the "professional graders" who claim they can pick out champion breeders / flyers from certain physical characteristics.  There is no human on this earth, regardless of what he believes or says, who can select champions by physical appearance.  Those who profess this ability as a "professional grader" have done more harm than good to our sport.  It is nothing more than fraud on their part and foolishness on the fancier's part for listening and following such bad advice.

I have been very fortunate in my life to be successfully involved in various competitive sports.  HUMAN AND ANIMAL.  Only in the pigeon sport have I ever heard of evaluating athletes by "EYE SIGN".  Only in the pigeon sport do these experts exist (self proclaimed experts).  WHY?, because we in the sport look for any short cut to success.  There is none.  The only way to be successful in this sport is the old fashioned way, to work for it and earn it.

I agree that eyes are important, not the eyes of the bird, the eyes of the buyer.  The pigeon only needs to see to find his way home.  The buyer must look and study the bird's pedigree and ancestors to determine if the bird's background is suitable for the style of racing in his country

I believe in the simple principle of genetics.  HEREDITY IS HANDED DOWN FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT.  LIKES BREED LIKES.  Intelligence, compass, homing instinct, navigation skills, determination, courage and heart are inherited from the birds pedigree or ancestors' bloodlines.

Always go to the original fancier or source for your birds.  The fancier has his reputation, honesty, integrity and his birds' good name at risk.  Usually, he will give you a better selection and a better deal.

Keep all birds on a regular schedule and routine.  There is no substitute for eating, sleeping and training at the same time each day.  Put your loft activities on a regular schedule, you will notice an improvement in the health and fitness of your birds within a short period of time.  When loft flying or road training, birds should fly - land - trap - peanuts.

Successful trainers educate their young birds by obtaining a shipping crate identical to the one used by the club.  They prepare the birds for what to expect on shipping night.  This is a big advantage for the young birds to know where to look for food and water.  Take no chances that the birds will find it on their own.

When you look for locations to release your birds, always try to find large land marks that the birds can remember and see at great distances.  After you reach the 40 mile toss location or the water, whichever comes first, all training tosses are single bird tosses.